This study, based on Oxford's study (1990) upon L2 learning strategies, intends to identify problems L2 learners (English learners of Chinese) encountered in actual comprehension of spatial language and what kinds of strategies they would employ to overcome these difficulties to obtain improved proficiency in learning spatial language. Within this study, by means of questionnaire, information on problems that L2 learners would face when understanding spatial language and how they worked these problems out will be collected. And then, by randomly interviewing some of participants who took part in the survey previously, this study tries to work out a framework that could provide an useful explanation of how L2 learners take steps to acquire a comprehensive understanding of spatial language in language learning. On the whole, by integrating quantitative data with qualitative data, the results has shown that there are four types of problems that L2 learners would encounter while comprehending spatial language: grammatical intricacy, L1 transfer, visual experience and individual capability. And about 6 preferred strategies have been concluded through evidence collected via questionnaire and interview.

Image interpolation and image super-resolution (SR) are fundamental and essential problems in image processing. They share a common purpose which is to enhance the resolution of a low-resolution (LR) digital image, as well as have some dissimilarities. Image interpolation aims to predict missing high-resolution (HR) pixels from the neighboring known ground truth HR pixels, while the objective of image super-resolution is to generate a HR image which preserves sharp edges and natural textures from a blurred and down-sampled version of the original HR image. The low-quality and small digital images become increasingly undesirable when the resolution of the display screens keeps growing. However, the existing image interpolation and image super-resolution algorithms either produce unsatisfactory HR images with blurry edges and annoying artifacts or require too long processing time to realize practical applications. We propose a two-stage framework for fast image interpolation via random forests (FIRF). The proposed FIRF method gives high accuracy, as well as requires low computation. The underlying idea of this proposed work is to apply random forests to classify the natural image patch space into numerous subspaces and learn a linear regression model for each subspace to map the LR image patch to HR image patch. The FIRF framework consists of two stages. Stage 1 of the framework removes most of the ringing and aliasing artifacts in the initial Bi-cubic interpolated image, while Stage 2 further refines the Stage 1 interpolated image. By varying the number of decision trees in the random forests and the number of stages applied, the proposed FIRF method can realize computationally scalable image interpolation. Extensive experimental results show that the proposed FIRF(3,2) method achieves more than 0.3 dB improvement in PSNR over the state-of-the-art Nonlocal Auto-Regressive Modeling (NARM) method. Moreover the proposed FIRF(1,1) obtains similar or better results as NAMR while requires only 0.3% of its computational time.We also propose to use a set of decision tree strategies for fast and high quality image SR. We take the divide-and-conquer strategy using decision tree for super-resolution (SRDT) which performs a few simple binary tests to classify an input LR patch into one of the leaf nodes and directly multiplies this LR patch with the regression model at that leaf node for regression. Both the classification process and the regression process take extremely small amount of computation. We formulate a hierarchical decision trees (SRHDT) method which cascades multiple layers of super-resolution decision trees to further boost the SR results. Inspired by the random forests approach which combines regression models from an ensemble of decision trees, we propose a hierarchical decision trees approach with fused regression models (SRHDT_f), which fuses the regression models from 4 relevant leaf nodes within the same decision tree to form a more robust regression model. This achieves another 0.1 dB improvement. Our experimental results show that our initial approach, the SRDT method achieves comparable SR results as the sparse representation based method and the deep learning based method but the speed of our method is much faster. Furthermore, our enhanced version, the SRHDT_f method achieves more than 0.3 dB higher PSNR over that of the A+ method which is the state-of-the-art method in SR. Hybrid DCT-Wiener-Based interpolation scheme using the learnt Wiener filter can significantly improve both objective and subjective performance by learning a suitable Wiener filter to fit the hybrid scheme with a good mix of spatial and transform domain process. Using the adaptive k-NN MMSE estimation for each block achieves extraordinary up-sampling results. However, it needs a large database and relatively long processing time. We have also investigated using multiple learnt Wiener filters and combined the information from both external training images and original low-resolution image. The proposed dual MMSE estimators adaptively resolve the problem of one general learnt Wiener filter and use less computation time compared with that of the k-NN MMSE estimation. Experimental results show that the proposed dual MMSE estimators achieve around 1dB PSNR improvement compared to the original hybrid DCT-Wiener-Based scheme and provide more natural visual quality.

Whereas former researches on peer review made great efforts to study its effectiveness as a classroom teaching resource, this MA research looks at the language used in 254 pieces of peer review texts from a group of Chinese students preparing for TOEFL writing exam in an online forum. Applying a systemic functional approach to analyze the corpus of the review text, this expository study aims at delineating the generic structure and discursive pattern of the texts and, based on the analysis, sets out to understand the bidirectional relationship between the contextautonomous, voluntary peer review distinctively different from the common classroom-based, instructor-mediated peer reviewand the text. Specifically, it looks into how interpersonal meanings are being constructed and negotiated through the texts that the student reviewers produce, and how in this respect language helps to construct a sense of community in the asynchronous online setting. Findings show that peer review texts are characterized by a series of discursive elements that are shaped largely by the situational context within which the texts are embedded; some available lexicogrammatical resources that student reviewers use to enact interpersonal meanings are inclusive &quot;we&quot; and different types of modality.

Previous studies on opposites focused on its sub-type classification and such as: antonym (or, gradable opposite),complementary (or, ungradable opposite)and converse (or, relational opposite) but are not enough to clarify the differences among the three sub-types. Besides, the behaviors of opposites in natural language has not been observed and discussed yet. Therefore, these two questions trigger our work on the topic of being opposites. With a large-scale corpus, this thesis focuses on Chinese opposites, a relatively poorly explored language in this area, as the experimental object, and has finished three studies on the behaviors of the three main sub-types, from character-based constructions to constrained-free contexts. The first study focuses on the opposite pairings in constructions from bi-syllabic to quad-syllabic. We discuss the semantic functions of these pairings under different structures. For practical usages and explore the determining principles in opposite member order. Our findings suggest that Pollyanna Principle is not enough to explain all the Chinese data. Prosodic principle and temporal order may influence the opposite order in constructions. The second study is an extensional work of the first one. Syntactic frames are used to extract the opposite pairings’ co-occurrence in discourse. Result of it shows the differences among the three sub-types of opposites in discourse function distribution, and that among Chinese, English and Japanese. Moreover, we use frequency and frame distribution to define canonical opposite pairings and find that Chinese data challenges the hypothesis in previous researches. In study 2,we notice that negation frames only take a small percentage in Chinese result. In order to see the relation between negation and opposites, we design study 3. We use negation frames to trigger out pairings in free-constrained context. Result clearly shows that, rather than opposites, other semantic relations also occur in these frames. It suggests that, words in negation frames are not necessary to be opposites. In sum, the three studies cover the most discussed topics in previous studies about opposite relation. This work is meaningful in the theoretical discussion on semantic relations, as well as in the practical resource building for Information Extraction as general.

This dissertation proposed a theory of Contrastive Proposition Structure in Chinese Mandarin. Based on the investigation of the main contributions of semantical propositions, suchas entailment, presupposition and implicature, the assumptions of the Proposition Structure were identified. The main sub-issues studied were: (1) the formalization of the structure, (2) the semantic and syntactic properties of the proposition structure, (3) the different types of triggers and the functions they demonstrate in the structure, and (4) the inter-propositional relations between various constituents.A detailed analysis of two triggers was provided. First, the adverbial benlai is an instance of a bare lexical item trigger. Benlai triggers an implicit proposition which contributes a formal structure with the well-formed proposition. According to the theory of T&P Property(Dahl, 1981; Declerck, 1989; Depraetere, 1995), the classification of inter-propositional relations was clarified. The essential relationship under investigation was demonstrating the natures of contrast. Based on this knowledge, the issues of the constraints of contrast and the comparison of contrast (Alatis, 1968; Fisiak, 1991; James, 1980; Krzeszowski, 1990; Nehls,1979)and negation(Gazdar,1979;Haegeman,1995; Thompson, Longacre&Hwang, 1985) were discussed briefly. Furthermore, the adverbial yuanlai was studied as well. The adverbial benlai is an implicit contrastive proposition structure trigger,while yuanlai is a pure time clausemarker.The second example of a trigger was a construction trigger. Da+NP+de has always been treated as a conventional idiom in previous studies. In this dissertation, I investigated the different categories of the readings from Da+NP+de construction. Within the framework of Fuzzy Set Theory (Klaua, 1965; Klir & Yuan, 1995; Zadeh, 1965, 1972), the semantic and syntactic properties of Da+NP+de were illustrated. Meanwhile, the constraints of the time NP and the follow-up proposition indicated the formalization of the entire structure. The relationship between convention (Lewis, 1969; Strawson, 1964) and non-convention was primarily researched. The contrastive pattern built for Da+NP+de was compatible with the benlai case. Based on this analysis, the notion and features of Implicit Contrastive Proposition Structure and its triggers was proposed.To reinforce this theory, the other two structure triggers genben and zhishao were introduced as well. The contrastive feature is a necessary requirement for the Implicit Proposition Structure in Chinese cases and this acknowledgement may contribute to a fresh perspective on the investigation of partial Chinese adverbials and formal constructions.

Highway pavement is an essential component of transportation infrastructures. While providing important services to the society, highway pavement also consumes a large amount of capital investments and creates significant impacts to the environment. Consequently, sustainable development principles need to be adopted in highway pavement management to balance the needs from different stakeholders in the present and future. However, an integrated approach to assessing and enhancing the multiple dimensions of sustainability in the pavement's life cycle is currently lacking. This affects the ability of highway agencies to develop proper strategies to promote sustainability when making engineering and management decisions.The research aims to develop methods and tools to assist highway agencies implementing sustainability principles in the management of highway pavement. The overall goal is addressed through interconnected objectives, including the identification of critical sustainability concerns throughout the pavement's life cycle, the assessment of the influences of management decisions on the different aspects of sustainability, and the optimization of the management decisions guided by sustainability principles.The major outcomes of the research are summarized as follows. (1) Critical sustainability concerns in the life cycle of highway pavement are identified and quantified. The economic impacts are represented by life cycle costs (LCC); the environmental impacts are represented by energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; the social impacts are represented by mobility,safety, and health. (2) A methodological framework is developed to assess the identified critical sustainability concerns. (3) Thermodynamic models and a software tool are developed for estimating energy consumption and GHG emissions in asphalt mixture production. (4) The exposure levels of pavement construction workers to harmful pollutants including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matters (PMs) are identified and the health risks of the workers are assessed. (5) Polynomial regression models are developed to quantitatively assess the impacts of pavement thickness design and maintenance decisions on LCC, energy consumption, and GHG emissions. (6) Multi-objective nonlinear programming models are developed and solved to find the optimum solutions for enhancing flexible highway pavement sustainability.By identifying the specific sustainability concerns in the life cycle of flexible highway pavement, this study is expected to help highway administrators enhance pavement sustainability through addressing such critical concerns. The methods and tools developed in this study are expected to help highway administrators quantitatively evaluate the effects of their decisions on the different dimensions of sustainability. The multi-objective decision analysis models are expected to help highway administrators identify the most sustainable solutions and assess the tradeoffs of potentially conflicting sustainability goals. Although this study is carried out in the context of highway pavement management in Hong Kong, the methods and tools may be easily adapted to the sustainable management of highway pavement in other regions.

The notion of recovery has been introduced to the mental health field for over 25 years. Under the new definition of recovery, people with mental illness are believed to be able and capable of a better future. In recovery literature, a lot of inspiring stories have been published about people who experience recovery from their schizophrenia. From these stories, some important components of recovery have been pointed out, with 'hope' being the most mentioned. By employing an inductive thematic analysis approach, this study explores the lived experience of hope amongst people recovering from schizophrenia in Hong Kong. Overall, eight participants, comprising three females and five males who were diagnosed with schizophrenia, are interviewed. Their lived experience of hope and recovery is written down for analysis and interpretation. Drawing from the data collected in the study, six overarching themes and seventeen related sub-themes have been identified. Their first-person experiences reveal that their experience of hope, firstly, intertwine with their ups and downs of illness in their recovery process, and, secondly, interact with other contributing factors. All main themes and sub-themes are interrelated. A description and discussion of the results are supported by rich first-person narration. Implications for clinical practice and future research are proposed.

Adopting the framework of systemic functional linguistics (Halliday &amp; Matthiessen, 2004), the present study aims to investigate Chinese adolescent ESL learners{174} English learning by examining their writing with the data from a yearlong longitudinal study. A class of 50 best students in Junior 3 from a top 5 high school in Guangzhou China is chosen as the participants for the present study, which consists of 24 boys and 26 girls. Ten natural writing tasks throughout the whole academic year are collected from this class of students. The framework of functional text analysis for the present study is comprised of the following aspects: contextual analysis, ideational analysis, logical analysis, interpersonal analysis and textual analysis, which provides us a multiple perspectives to explore participants{174} English learning by looking at their written texts.The analysis was conducted in five phases: (1) all the ten writing tasks were conducted contextual analysis, which drew from text typology (Matthiessen, Teruya, &amp; Lam, 2010) register theory (Halliday, 1977), genre (Martin, 2008), in order to obtain what text types students would employ in their ESL learning. (2) With the chosen three writing tasks, ten cases were chosen as manual analysis for ideational analysis, which focused on how students deploy the system of transitivity to instantiate their meaning potential; (3)Similarly, logical analysis was done by investigating how students deploy clause complex in their writing; (4) Interpersonal analysis was also conducted by looking at the participants{174} deployment of modal resources in their writing in the system of modality; (5)Finally, textual analysis was done by investigating how the participants construe their meaning potential in a text by different deployment of Themes in their writing.Based on the analyses, the present study concludes that contextually speaking, students from Junior three are lack of tenor awareness in their ESL writing, where we could not find many successful interpersonal relations building. Additionally, in L2 context, the most favored text type by students in China is recommending, which is different from what Christie &amp; Derewianka (2008) found in Australia context. Lexicogrammatically speaking, registerial differences are identified in all these writings with different configuration of field, mode and tenor. Most of the lexicogrammatical resources students deployed are congruent type, like modality, process type, circumstance, clause complex. Homogeneity of students{174} writing is spotted in the students{174} output, which lies to the reason of exam-driven culture. With all these results and findings, relevant pedagogical and curriculum design implications are provided for improvement of instruction of ESL L2 writing at secondary level in China.

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been widely applied in many fields such as the aerospace industry for many years. Compared with steel which is a commonly used modern construction material, the FRP composites have the advantages of excellent corrosion resistance and high strength-to-weight ratio. The corrosion resistance of FRP can benefit the long-term performance of reinforced structures, while the high strength-to-weight ratio leads to great ease in site handling, which reduces labor cost and interruptions to existing services. While a large number of studies have been conducted for the short-term performance of FRP-strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) structures, uncertainty is still remaining in their long-term performance. Indeed, lack of proper understanding of the durability of the FRP-strengthened RC structures has in return impeded a wider adoption of this technique in practice.In this present study, the long-term performance of FRP-to-concrete interfaces and FRP-strengthened RC beams subjected to accelerated wet-dry cycles, which simulate a sub-tropical environment, is investigated. The thesis consists of four parts of work: (1) Evaluation of the degradation of materials used in the FRP-strengthened RC structures to provide a reference for the following durability study on FRP-to-concrete interfaces and FRP-strengthened RC beams. The concrete, FRP composites and adhesive materials were tested after 8 months of accelerated dry-wet cycle exposure. (2) Examination of the long-term performance on FRP-to-concrete interfaces subjected to accelerated wet-dry cycle exposure, with the aim to establish a series of exposure-based interfacial bond-slip models;(3) Assessment of the durability of FRP-strengthened RC beams, which experienced 8 months of accelerated dry-wet cycle exposure. Finite Element (FE) analysis was conducted to simulate their mechanical performance with due consideration of the degradation of materials and FRP-to-concrete interfaces; (4) The long-term performance of FRP-strengthened RC beams under sustained load. Four beams were loaded under two different load levels for 9 months and the beam deflections were continuously measured using the fiber optic sensing technique. FE simulations were also conducted to reproduce the time-dependent beam deflections in comparison with the test results. Static loading tests were also conducted on the beams at the end of the sustained loading.The following findings have been obtained from the above studies: Degradations were observed in FRP-to-concrete interface after 8-month exposure, while their degree varied in different types of FRP systems. The proposed exposure-dependent bond-slip model gave a good prediction of the degraded bond behavior; (b) The load capacity of FRP-strengthened RC beams decreased by 1.4% to 10.8% after 8-month exposure in wet-dry cycles, while increase in stiffness of beams was also observed; (c) Carbon FRP (CFRP)-strengthened RC beams were subjected to 300 days sustained loading. The time dependent deflections were 1.76~2.60 times the instantaneous deflections. However, no significant change was observed on the load-carrying capacity of the strengthened beams after the sustained loading regardless of the sustained load levels. (d) The FE models developed in this study with the implementation of appropriate bond-slip models of the FRP-to-concrete interface, can effectively predict the long-term behavior of FRP-strengthened RC beams with due consideration of the effects of weathering and sustained loading.

The development of nanocarriers with multiple functionalities, e.g. multimodal imaging, medical targeting, diagnostics, and therapeutic actions in one material, has attracted considerable interests for biomedical applications. The use of multifunctional nanocarriers for early diagnosis and therapy of diseases is expected to provide significant improvements to the diagnostic accuracy, therapeutic efficiency and minimize side effects. A novel graphene quantum dots (GQDs) based drug delivery system was developed for dual-model imaging and cancer therapy. Magnetic and fluorescent Fe₃O₄@SiO₂-GQDs-FA nanocarriers were successfully fabricated. Specifically, Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized via a modified co-precipitation method. Core-shell Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ NPs were fabricated by modifying the Stober method via the hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). The conjugation of GQDs onto the surfaces of amino functionalized Fe₃O₄@SiO₂ NPs was achieved via the classic carbodiimide crosslinker chemistry. The non-covalent π-π stacking was used to load DOX onto the nanocarriers. Luminescent GQDs allows real-time tracing intracellular uptake, suggesting the localization of internalized nanocarriers. The cytotoxicity data suggest that drug-free nanocarriers are highly biocompatible and DOX-loaded nanocarriers are more effective than free DOX in cancer therapy. As mentioned above, these luminomagnetic nanocarriers with excellent biocompatibility, super fluorescence property and good magnetic response would have potential application in diagnosis and therapy. It is revealed that MNPs@SiO₂-GQD-FA nanocarrier is a promising platform for simultaneous dual modal imaging and targeted drug delivery.

Recent reports published in Hong Kong highlight the lack of experienced and competent designers in the city (Heskett, 2003; The DesignSmart Research Project, 2008). Two possible reasons behind this problem are insufficient training provided to fresh university graduates upon their transition into the workplace and the fact that academics and employers do not realize they have a role to play in the transition. University-workplace transitions have been studied extensively around the world (Schein, 1972; Argyris & SchOn, 1989; Eraut , 1994, 2007; Boshuizen, 2003; Tuomi-Grohn, Engestrom & Young, 2003; Smeby, 2007; Asian Development Bank, 2012), with researchers pointing out that there is often a ‘learning gap’ between the two settings. Little, if any, research in this area, however, has focused on how university students become “professional designers through the transition, and few, if any, studies have focused on the context of Hong Kong. Meanwhile, research shows that this period is critical to graduates’ learning through professional practice and their acquisition of different types of knowledge and skills (Boshuizen, 2003; Guile & Young, 2003; Eraut, 2007). Given the significance of this transition and the dearth of studies focusing on design graduates, my PhD study examined the questions of what general issues graphic design graduates typically face during the transition and how these issues affect their professional development. Three kinds of respondents or stakeholders were involved in the study: graduate graphic designers, design firm employers and design academics. The study relied on a mixed method approach, with the qualitative interview method as the core qualitative component and a survey as the supplementary quantitative component. Pattern-matching and category construction were used for analyzing the qualitative data, while descriptive statistics were used to validate and support the conclusions arrived at through the analysis of the qualitative data. The findings of the study confirm that Hong Kong graphic design graduates entering the profession lack the practical competence expected of them and needed for successful socialization into the professional community. This was highlighted by all the three groups of respondents who felt that university education does not prepare design graduates for professional practice. Several explanations for this problem were identified. It was suggested that this problem is mainly due to the fact that the criteria by which competence is judged are different between academia and professional practice. It was also found that neither academics nor firm employers consider themselves as having the primary responsibility for providing training to graduates during the transition. All the three groups of stakeholders concurred to a significant extent that an arduous workplace environment, a lack of structure and accountability of the stakeholders, and the absence of a professional ‘goal’ in graphic design, all contribute to the difficulty in graduates’ professional development. The results of the study suggest that all the stakeholders must take greater responsibility for raising the professional standards of graduates. This seems to demand that in the first place, some agreement must be reached between the stakeholders about the core competences of graphic design and the types of training needed in the transition. Once that has been done, it may be possible for the academic curriculum and the requirements of professional design bodies to be better harmonized. It seems obvious from the evidence presented here that closer collaboration between academia and professional bodies is vital. In the longer term, given the absence of sufficient research into what constitutes “graphic design, what is needed is further research into the “core competences and comprehensive “professional criteria of graphic design in Hong Kong, defined in terms of skills, practices, and knowledge.

Social networks have presently become a global phenomenon.In the interactive platforms of social media, people can create, share, and exchange information, including spreading their personal opinions about specific products/services. In hospitality and tourism, word-of-mouth (WOM) plays a prominent role in influencing the purchase intentions of customers because some aspects of products are intangible before consumption. Positive reviews are free-adverting for companies and help increase business potential. On the contrary, undesirable comments can severely ruin the image and reputation of a company. Although the extant literature well addresses the devastating impact of negative electronic WOM (eWOM), little focuses on the perspective of service providers. To narrow the knowledge gap, this qualitative research aims to explore how hotels handle and respond to customer criticism posted on various eWOM channels. The results reveal that although the concept and mechanism of eWOM handling are similar to those of dealing with normal customer feedback in many ways, there are some variances between these two systems. Based on different considerations, hotels adopt three approaches, including: (1) Publicly responding to both positive and negative eWOM, (2) Privately contacting complainers, and (3) No response.

With the rapid development of computers, CAD/CAM technologies, and information technologies, the footwear industry is being reshaped for online shopping.There are many parameters to evaluate how appropriate the footwear is for a person, such as the fit, comfort, materials, style, and design. Footwear fit is the foundation and undoubtedly the most important parameter since improper fit may lead to injuries. The shoe-last, many times referred to as the heart of the shoe-making process, is a reproduction of the approximate shape of the human foot vital to the manufacturing of shoes and controls the style, comfort and fit. In spite of numerous studies on feet and footwear, uncomfortable, ill-fitted, injury-prone and illness-inclined footwear are still common. One of the key reasons for this is neglect in the design of the shoe-last. Currently it is an art rather than a science to make a new shoe-last, where a skilled master uses manual techniques to sculpture a new shoe-last guided by only girth and length measures. Footwear production involves sample design, sample fit trials, and production runs. The shoe-last design and fit testing are obviously error prone, very subjective due to the limited number of shoe testers, time consuming and costly. Since the foot shape, the shoe-last shape and the corresponding shoe shape are different, careful study is required to make scientifically designed shoe-lasts for better fitting. Thus, the main objective of this research is to parameterize and quantify the space among the foot shapes, the shoe-last shapes and the inside shoe shapes to enhance the accuracy of the fitting evaluation during the shoe-last design and the shoe design. To begin, a predictive foot modeling method is presented. 80 Chinese male were selected as subjects for the development experiment and validation experiment of the modeling method. Their feet were scanned by accurate 3D laser scanner to be used as the reference foot models.50 subjects' data out of the 80 was used as the experimental data. The other 30 were used to validate the method. The normalized result was that the optimal key sections were at the 47% and 71% of the foot length for the right foot, while 48% and 72% for the left foot. Mean error between the modeled foot shape and scanned foot shape of the experiment data set were 0.74mm of the right foot and 0.73mm of the left foot. These values are approximate to the claimed error of commercialized laser scanners, which are between 0.5 to 1 mm. The mean errors of the validation data set of the right and left foot were 0.76mm and 0.75mm respectively, which were at the similar level of the accuracy with the experimental data set.Thus, the method can be applied during general foot modeling.Another experiment was then utilized to develop the fit model.Nine pairs of shoe-lasts with three different heel heights and three different toe shapes were designed. The corresponding shoes were used to explore the foot and shoe-last alignment model, the foot deformation model and the footwear fit model. The right feet of 50 subjects were scanned by Microsoft Kinect with the landmarks, defined on the transparent surface of the shoes.The scanned foot model was aligned with the shoe-last by the landmarks, then PCA axis of the foot was found then; and the angles between it and the shoe-last alignment axis (bottom center line) were calculated.The distribution of the angles by different styles of shoe-last illustrated that there is indeed an angle between the foot PCA axis and the shoe-last axis.The value of the angle is mainly affected by the toe shape design of the shoe-last, but little by the heel height. The shoe-last of the round and the square toe shape affects the angle less than the pointed one.A regression model was also given to calculate this angle.The flat foot model was deformed to create foot shapes at different heel height and toe spring. This was called the Foot Deformed Model [FDM].The instep scaling factor curve was obtained to modify the height of the instep sections of the FDM, since differences between the FDM and the Scanned Deformed Model [SDM] in the instep region were found. Mean errors between the FDMs and the SDMs of 12 subjects were 2.77mm of the 10mm heel height shoe-last, 2.61mm of the 40mm heel height shoe-last and 3.42mm of the 70mm heel height shoe-last.After the foot registration and the foot deformation, the relationship between the foot model surface and the shoe-last model surface was analyzed entirely or regionally. Moreover, the shoe-last surface and the inside shoe shape were compared and analyzed. Twenty landmarks were defined on the transparent shoe upper, and then marked on the shoe-last and the subject's foot surface.The landmark fit model consists of the set of the foot landmarks, the set of the shoe-last landmarks and their vectors. The foot surface covered by the shoe upper was separated into 7 anatomical regions. A surface subdivision method based on the landmarks were proposed and used to extract the points of each region.The landmark regional fit model consists of the regional errors between the foot and the shoe-last and the mean error of each region. The regional fit model can give the error weight of each region of the shoe-last, which can be used in adjusting the overall average error so as to make the fit evaluation more accurate.Moreover, the deformation model for the change of the shoe-last shape into the inside shoe shape was proposed for shoe fit evaluation in shoes design. A number of issues in the shoe-last and shoe fit evaluation were solved in this research. The footwear fit model can provide a quantitative assessment on the shoe-last and predict the shoes' fitting, which will advances the CAD/CAM of the shoe-last and virtual footwear design, especially for customization.

Terminal operations are known to be among the most challenging operational research topics because the field is full of theories with applications to real-life practice. In the last decade, terminal operations research has been carried out on such topics as berth allocation, quay crane scheduling, yard planning, container locating and internal tractors assignment and scheduling (ITAS). The latter is a particularly important topic since it directly affects the overall performance of container terminals, involving terminal productivity, equipment utilization and service rate, as well as associated seaside operations with yard-side operations. It involves the scheduling of internal tractors to transport different loading and unloading containers between vessels at the quayside and the yard side. The idea of ITAS is to improve the internal traffic flow in the container terminal. It mainly deals with the problem of assigning different internal tractors to pick-and-drop different exporting containers from the yard side to the quayside, and importing containers from the quayside to the yard side. However, many container terminal companies are still not able to efficiently and effectively cope with ITAS in the terminal logistic. There are a few challenging problems with respect to planning and managing a container transportation network that trouble terminal operators in terminal industry. In fact, the experience of an operator plays a crucial role in making the decision for exact number of internal tractors and transportation routes in daily operations. This is due to that the number of containers and storage locations are so large that the job of assigning and scheduling internal tractors to maximize terminal efficiency and enhance service level is extremely complicated. Moreover, allocating suitable storage locations for inbound containers requires a jointly consideration of managing internal tractors. It is difficult to decide which storage locations should be reserved for a certain vessel and where an inbound container should be stored, and this situation becomes even more complicated when transhipment is required.Although ITAS has been thoroughly researched, most of the studies lack consideration of practical issues, such as terminals outsourcing a number of internal tractors to perform a set of container delivery requests, and the transportation of transhipment containers. Due to a highly competitive business environment, container terminals are facing a tradeoff between container transportation efficiency and cost. Terminals strive to increase the efficiency of container delivery, which may need good transportation schedules and internal tractor deployment strategies. The scheduling and assignment of internal tractors is critical for maintaining high terminal performance in the overall container terminal system. In this connection, this study considers ITAS integration with the internal tractor deployment strategy and transhipment operations, and new models are developed. The ultimate goal is to maximize the terminal operation efficiency. Heuristic algorithms are proposed to solve these integrated and complicated models. Computational results show that solving the integration problem as a whole can significantly improve the terminal operation efficiency. This research is not only pioneering in the area of container terminal operations, but the findings also provide a vital reference for future research on ITAS. The study has generated the following five deliverables: (i) ITAS is enriched by formulating and modeling all potential available storage locations; (ii) a novel ITAS system integrating container storage allocation and yard truck deployment strategy is identified and modeled; (iii) a two-level heuristic optimization methodology is developed to deal with the novel ITAS system, which is shown to obtain better results compared with other algorithms; (iv) a new ITAS system for transhipment container delivery and transportation in transhipment hubs is detailed demonstrated and modeled; and (v) a decomposition iterative algorithm optimization methodology for the proposed ITAS system in transhipment hubs is proposed.

Urbanization occurs as the main production of countries switch from agriculture to industry. A lot problems of social conflicts emerged. The supply of public service can't fill the needs of public is one of them. In order to achieve equitable and convenient access to public service, it is important to have a comprehensive understanding of spatial accessibility of population. This study is based on the project National Geographic Condition Monitoring and choose public hospital as a representative. With the data provided by the government, a workflow of assess the spatial accessibility of public hospital is summarized. First, a road length weighted method is applied to downscale the population data from administrative district to resident settlement. Then, the two step floating catchment area method is applied to measure the spatial accessibility to public hospital. Detail steps to implement this model is written in the dissertation with some discussion and analysis. At last, the result is interpreted.Area with low accessibility is point out. The correlation of the data is also analyzed.

Liquid water absorption and transport properties of fabrics are critical not only to the success of wet processes such as dyeing, printing and finishing, but also to the performance of textile product. In order to characterise the water transport properties and maximize the comfort of wearer, it is essential to choose the appropriate measurement method. Since perception of wetness is a complex process involving multiple human sensory receptors, subjective assessment with realistic representation of the actual wear situation is preferred. Various subjective assessment methods have been developed in the past. In the present study, those subjective assessment methods were reviewed with respect to the technique for setting the experimental condition, its reliability and sensitivity. Based on this critical review, two subjective assessment methods, viz. the psychological scaling method using forefinger and the psychophysical threshold method performing on inner forearm, were developed in the present study to evaluate the wetness discomfort of a range of apparel fabrics. Each of these two methods has advantages and disadvantages in differentiating the wet sensation of apparel fabrics. For the psychological assessment method, it is easy to use by the assessors. Forefinger was utilised to glide and sweep around the wetted portion of fabric (active touch) and the intensity of wet discomfort was assessed. Human perception regarding dryness of fabrics is emphasised but it might have limited implication about the sensation during wear. With just circling a number on the wetness rating scale for the psychological method, the assessor involvement level is low. Besides, end-of-scale problem and error of central tendency might reduce the accuracy and sensitivity of the test. In general, this method might be suitable for fabrics with relatively large difference in terms of hydrophilicity. For the psychophysical threshold experiment, the relation of stimulus and sensation could be quantified. Fabrics with increasing wetness were moved across the inner forearm (passive touch) and the absolute threshold for wet and clingy sensation of fabric was assessed. Compared with the first method, the experimental setting of this forearm method may be closer to actual wear condition. Water was applied to the fabric continuously simulating the sweating process and sweat rate is adjustable. This method emphasised the initial wetness discomfort during wear where effect of body movement was also considered. However, due to differing wetting phenomenon of hydrophilic (water spreads on both sides of fabrics) and hydrophobic (water aggregates only at the back of fabric and may roll away from skin) fabrics, receptors from our skin cannot differentiate these two fabric types in the current set up. Notwithstanding, this method could successfully differentiate the wetness intensity of hydrophilic fabrics in a reproducible manner suggesting reliable and sensitive measures.Subjective assessment tends to better represent the actual wear conditions, but less accurate and reproducible compared to objective measurements. Good objective measurement methods should at least simulate some aspects of actual wear conditions and at the same time give accurate and reproducible measurements. In this study, some most common objective measurement methods were for the first time systematically compared in terms of reproducibility and relevance to subjective wet and clingy sensation through testing a range of apparel fabrics. It is apparent that conventional objective measurement methods fail to accurately characterize the transplanar wicking property of fabric, which is of great importance in removing liquid perspiration from the skin. Therefore, in this research two novel instruments were developed to measure the in-plane as well as the transplanar wicking property of fabric. The first instrument, called Spontaneous Uptake Water Transport Tester (SUWTT), measures the water absorption rate, in-plane and transplanar wicking properties of fabrics under zero hydrostatic head. The amount of water applied is fabric absorbency dependent and is governed by material property. This tester enables real-time and direct measurement of the amount of water absorbed by the sample (initial period of sweating) automatically to minimise errors caused by manual operation. Another instrument, called Forced Flow Water Transport Tester (FFWTT), can measure the direction of water flow in fabric under adjustable rate of water supply depending on the physiological condition and activity level to be simulated. While the former instrument is more related to wear comfort since it is capable of measuring initial and prolonged sweating condition, the latter instrument better simulates human physiology since the metabolic rate is assumed to be constant and independent of fabric types. Both instruments are versatile for single layer or multiple layers of fabrics with varying geometrical properties, and give accurate measurements at a relatively low cost. It was found that (1) the water absorption rate by 1-layer SUWTT test; (2) water content of fabric by 1-layer SUWTT test; (3) water absorption by bottom filter paper in 3-layer SUWTT test; (4) fraction of water absorbed by the fabric in FFWTT test; and (5) fraction of water absorbed by the bottom filter paper in FFWTT test are strongly related to the subjective wet and clingy sensations, suggesting their capability to simulate the actual wear condition. Besides, the correlation analysis suggests that transplanar and in-plane wicking property of fabric are not related to the subjective assessment result. The main cause of this is that the subjective tests developed focus on the initial wetness discomfort, instead the wetness comfort after prolonged wear is not considered while transplanar and in-plane wicking property may affect wear comfort in long run.

Nitrous acid (HONO) plays significant roles in atmospheric chemistry;it can be the dominant source of hydroxyl radical (OH) in urban area after early morning and an important daytime source of nitric oxide (NO) in rural and remote regions.Despite its importance,the formation mechanism of HONO is not completely understood.Many field HONO measurements have been conducted in different locations of the world since 1979,which have improved the understanding of HONO formation in terrestrial environment.However,there have been very few HONO measurements in the marine boundary layer (MBL).Considering the fact that many cities are located in the coastal regions,it is of great importance to know the abundance and sources of HONO in the MBL environment and to investigate the impact of HONO on photochemistry.Information on ambient HONO concentrations are also needed to validate and improve current global and regional chemical transport models (CTMs).In this study, continuous measurements of HONO were performed using a long-path absorption photometer (LOPAP) instrument at a coastal background site (Hok Tsui) in Hong Kong during September-December 2012.Meteorological parameters and other related pollutants such as nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂),total reactive nitrogen (NOy),ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) were also measured.Analysis of the overall data and the selected cases reveal following major findings:An averaged diurnal pattern with two HONO peaks is observed at Hok Tsui, which is different from the typical HONO pattern (with only a single nighttime peak).The first peak (with a mean concentration of 0.155 ppbv) that occurs before dawn is typical and should be due to the accumulation of nocturnal HONO;the second peak with even higher HONO level (mean concentration = 0.160 ppbv) shortly after sunrise is quite unique and should be related to strong formation of HONO during daytime.Nocturnal HONO formation is investigated by estimating and comparing the NO2-to-HONO conversion rates (CHONO) in sea-coming air masses,land-coming air masses,and other studies.The selected air masses are distinguished using back trajectory model (hybrid single particle lagrangian integrated trajectory, HYSPLIT model) and on-site wind. The CHONO in the "sea cases" (3.17-3.36 × 10-2 h-1) were significantly larger than rates determined in "land cases" (1.20-1.30 × 10-2 h-1) and other studies (0.80-1.80 × 10-2 h-1).Daytime HONO production, including both "known" and "unknown" sources, are examined.The source strength of presently known daytime sources is too small to explain the measured daytime peak,suggesting the presence of the "unknown" daytime source.The strength of the unknown source (up to 0.2 pptv/s), which is estimated using a photostationary state (PSS) method, is 4 8 times larger than the strength of the known sources (homogeneous reaction (NO+OH->HONO)and heterogeneous reaction(2NO₂+H₂O--surface--> HONO+HNO₃)).The unknown source also shows moderate correlation with NO₂, and the correlation (R = 0.57) is further enhanced by adding the term of solar radiation, implying that this unknown daytime HONO source may be a photo-enhanced heterogeneous process. HONO is found to be a more important source for OH throughout the entire daytime at Hok Tsui, compared to the contribution from ozone photolysis which is another major source of OH.

The black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), a species of fresh water fish, possesses a pair of powerful masticatory apparatus called pharyngeal teeth, which enable it to feed on snails and mussels equipped with hard shells. Such unique diet inspired us to investigate the teeth of black carp in an attempt to reveal the ingenious strategies for the design of engineering materials. To begin with, structural and mechanical characterizations were conducted on the pharyngeal teeth and the shells, showing that the enameloid (the outermost layer) of black carp teeth has similar elastic modulus and hardness in comparison to those of the pond snail shells. To shed light on the mechanics of black carp teeth crushing mollusk shell, parametric studies on the geometry of shells were conducted by using finite element analysis (FEA). It was found that whether a mollusk shell is crushable or not depends on the radius (R) and thickness (t) of the shell. A t-R map (predation map) was developed, giving rise to a region corresponding to crushable shells. Subsequent examination indicated that the geometries (R and t) of many fresh water species fall in the crushable region while those of the sea shells are beyond the crushing capability of black carp. These results agree well with the predation habit of black carp as a species of freshwater fish and are speculated as the consequence of natural selection.Preliminary studies indicated that the enameloid of black carp tends to fail, under indentation load, through ring cracking while some artificial brittle coatings (e.g. epoxy coated with glass) tend to fail through radial cracking. Therefore, the determinants of fracture modes (ring cracking &amp; radial cracking) of brittle coatings under indentation are investigated. Rigorous theoretical analysis and numerical simulation indicated that fracture modes of brittle coating are determined synergistically by two dimensionless parameters (Modulus mismatch Ec/Es and mormalized fracture strength δf), which are functions of the mechanical properties and some geometric parameters. A map of fracture modes was developed, whereby the fracture mode should be directly predicated based on the two dimensionless parameters. Experimental verification of the fracture-mode map was also carried out by examining the fracture modes of fused quartz/cement bilayer materials under indentation. The experimental observation exhibited good agreement with the prediction by the fracture-mode map. The fact that black carp teeth still function well upon frequent mechanical interactions (e.g.squeezing and grinding) with the hard mollusk shells implies that they have prominent wear resistance. Thus, the subsequent attention was focused on the anisotropic wear resistance of black carp teeth. Nanoscratch tests showed the occlusal surface exhibits better scratch resistance compared to the other sections of the enameloid. To explain this anisotropic wear resistance, a theoretical scratching model was built up based on the classic wear theory. Results showed that for the given pyramidal scratching tool, solid surfaces with higher toughness/shear strength ratio (e.g. occlusal surface) tend to have better wear resistance. Therefore, the prominent wear resistance of occlusal surface can be attributed to the higher toughness/shear strength ratio of occlusal surface. In summary, above investigations not only elucidated the mechanics accounting for the superior mechanical properties of the black carp teeth but provided practical strategies for the design of synthetic materials and structures with better mechanical properties.

Designers engage in various activities to shape individual experiences and perceptions into the creation of finished objects, implicating the communication of design intent as an extension of design knowledge. The design object assumes the representational form of this knowledge which is embedded and made cognizable to end-users, emphasizing the dynamic relationship between users and objects. Designers transmit knowledge as design intent, through interactions involving the user and object, allowing individual interpretations to serve as the meaning-making function of design knowledge.Positioned against the phenomenon of fashion, user-object interactions produce meanings to fulfill and establish relevance in specific social and cultural contexts. The consumption process creates a point of negotiation between design intent and user interpretation, utilizing the surface of the body to visually communicate and display the fashion object. The fashion system, as the interplay between the individual and society, requires a critical review of the design process during which design knowledge and its relevant meanings are produced and understood against changing cultural contexts.This thesis work deeply investigates the role of design knowledge as mediating the interactions between users and fashion objects. Supported by evidence of cultural change affecting the first generation of only-child adults, known as the Post-80s & 90s Chinese, the research analyzes the flow of knowledge as the transaction of meanings from the perspectives of design theory and theory of design practice. A key cultural variable, the Chinese concept of "face", was identified as influencing the aesthetics and tastes of young fashion consumers. To further investigate this concept,a series of pilot interviews were conducted to provide rich, qualitative insights. Young Chinese designers in Shanghai were included in this study to investigate how local designers respond to change and reevaluate their practices to align with the needs of users within their local fashion communities. Their experiences were analyzed to map how design practices generate knowledge of design and influence the creation of meanings. The conceptual framework of this research links the "face" concept (users) to design knowledge (designers) in the transactional system of meanings. A significant branch of design research focuses on the domains of knowledge, which have been identified as epistemology, praxiology, and phenomenology. This research follows a constructivist epistemology of knowledge, taking into account the linking of sensory experiences to produce interpretations of reality. The fashion movement triggers social interactions to become a socially constructed phenomenon embedded with cultural meanings. Designers are creators who communicate and transfer knowledge through design activities and processes, while users interpret this knowledge by relating it to social standards of aesthetics and taste. The object, more specifically the fashion product, is defined and analyzed as an epistemic artifact that elicits emotional responses in consumers. Users, as aesthetic subjects, are seen as active players in the construction of design meanings by embodying a form of dress. They shift knowledge of design into a representation of meanings, which are further communicated and shared through social relations and interactions. This culminates into a transactional system of negotiation between designer and object (embedded meanings), user and object (constructed meanings), user and society (co-constructed meanings).

Granular materials are applied in many fields, such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, mining industry, geotechnical engineering and others. They are unusual media that cannot be directly categorized as solid, liquid or gas. The mechanical responses of a granular material are notoriously complicated to describe or predict. Although many previous researchers have attempted to explore the granular medium through different directions, the mechanisms of these materials under various conditions are still far from well understood. The nature of granular materials is composited by discrete grains and surrounded voids, which crucially determine the macroscopic mechanical behavior of granular media. Hence, it is extremely important to know the variation of particle contact information at the micro-scale. This study aims to deeply explore the variation of microscopic contact information with many new insights under different loading and boundary conditions, including biaxial drained, "undrained", and one dimensional compression. In the current thesis, the discrete element method (DEM) is adopted as a robust tool to carry out a series of numerical tests, which can be considered to explain the relationships between the microscopic information and the macroscopic response. Particle shape plays an important role in both the microscopic and macroscopic responses of a granular assembly. A more suitable shape descriptor SF is suggested for the quantitative analysis of the macro-scale strength indexes and contact parameters for non-convex grains. The critical state friction angle increases linearly with the SF value. It is found that particle shape can directly influence the strain localization pattern, micro-scale fabric distribution, micro-scale mobilization indexes and probability density function (PDF) of the normalized contact normal force. Additionally, the accuracy of the stress-force-fabric (SFF) relationship can be overestimated or underestimated by the average normal force and the distribution of contact vectors. A series of numerical tests on the quasi-static deformation of dense granular media are performed to investigate the characteristics of mixtures of shapes that are composed of round and non-convex (Elongate) particles. Four respective contact types, which are divided into circle-circle contacts (CC), circle-elongate contacts (CE), simple elongate-elongate contacts (EE1) and multiple elongate-elongate contacts (EEm), are applied to interpret the macro granular mechanical response from the information of the effective contacts on a deeper micro-scale. The contact force ratio (K) of these four contacts can also be considered to explain the variation of the steady friction angle, particularly at the decreasing ranges of (0.2, 0.3) and (0.6, 0.7). Another interesting finding is that the PDF of friction mobilization (Im) for the CE contacts nearly overlaps at the mixture of 30%~60% Elongated particles. For the end of the strong force chains, the probability of the CC contacts is approximately the same. However, the pdf curves of the normalised contact forces of EE1 and EEm show a nearly linear increasing relationship with the increased percentage of Elongated particles. It should be point out that the variation of contact normal anisotropic coefficient is insensitive with the contact portions of EE1 and EEm.A traditional rolling resistance model has been implemented to compare with the simplified irregular clumps under the "undrained" shearing conditions. The numerical results indicate that the effects of rolling resistance model are limited to achieve the critical shear strength of irregular assemblages even when the rolling resistance coefficient α>0.5. Moreover, the artificial rolling resistance effect cannot easily generate an apparent liquefaction as the loose packing of irregular particle. Furthermore, the main weights of anisotropic parameters for "undrained" Elongate medium sample (UEM) and Triangular medium sample (UTM) are related to contact normal. However, for the rolling resistance samples, the anisotropy of contact normal force dominates the macro shear strength. In addition, it should be noted that the patterns of the probability distribution of friction mobilization as well as the combined with the force class for the rolling resistance samples and irregular assemblages at the quasi-static or the critical state are obviously different. The contact forces and coordination number distribution for crushable granular materials during one-dimensional compression are investigated using the DEM. A simple method is developed to reveal the fractal distribution of contact forces in comminuted granular materials. When the contact force distribution shows a log-normal relation, a fractal pattern of contact forces will emerge. The fractal contact force distribution can be considered to explain the evaluation of particle size distribution with a fractal feature. Moreover, systematically parametric studies show that the size ratio of the initial maximum size and the minimum crushable size, Weibull modulus, inter-particle frictional coefficient and permitted tensile stress of the initial largest particle can influence the patterns of contact force distribution at the ultimate state. Furthermore, the coordination number distribution for each particle displays a unified distribution within the fractal size distribution of granular assemblages at the ultimate state. The effects of initial particle size distribution (PSD) for the crushable granular materials are investigated under one dimensional compression within the loading-unloading-reloading procedure. The numerical macro results can qualitatively match with previous experimental tests for the initial uniform, bimodal and fractal packings. Many interesting post-processing results have been investigated to explore the variation of the macro responses. It is noticeable that the contact force distribution would gradually decrease with the reloading procedure, which would also increase the fractal dimension of the particle size distribution. However, the variation of the coordination number distribution is insensitive to the repetitive loading as well as the initial particle size distribution.